Posted by Matthew Yu on Wed, Oct 07, 2009 @ 04:08 PM
Before buying your first nitrogen tire inflation system for your shop, there are at least 5 things you should know:
1. Capacity.
Common wisdom tells us that a larger storage tank should allow you to fill more vehicles, and it does, until your tank is empty. However, it will also take longer for the tank to refill back up. As a result, it causes downtime during operation.
Get Nitrogen Institute (GNI)recommends that you buy a tank (or built-in) that is 10 gallons for every cubic foot per minute (cfm) output that your system produces. Then your tank will always be able to refill in 10 minutes and reduce your 
customer's wait time significantly. For example,
- 2cfm = 20 gallon tank
- 6cfm = 60 gallon tank
2. Purity
While there are variety of nitrogen inflation systems which offer between 95% or up to 99% purity, in reality 93% is all you need for a regular 32psi tires to optimize the benefits of nitrogen tire inflation. (http://www.getnitrogen.org/why/index.php) At 93% nitrogen purity inside the tire, oxygen inside the tire and the oxygen outside balances out such that there is no net migration or permeation of gases. Therefore, while it won't hurt your customers to have greater purity, it does not help them either since eventually the purity will go down to about 93%.
3. Total cost of the system
The prices of nitrogen inflation systems typically range from $3,000.00 to well over $10,000.00 depending on functions, flow rates and storage. While a $3,000.00 system may seem to be an attractive option for most shop owners, the maintenance and spare parts cost may be relatively high. It is similar to buying an inexpensive printer but have to replace ink cartridge frequently. Before buying a system, make sure to ask your system manufacturer(s) about the cost of the maintenance and repair, such as filter replacement cost and the frequency of changing it. Add these numbers to the initial system cost over a life time of usage (e.g. over a 5-year period) and then can come up with the total cost of system. Then compare the total cost of system among each manufacturer to find out about the total system cost.
4. Ability to market
The ability to market and sell nitrogen tire filling service for your business is as important as the
functionality of the system itself. Before you buy the system, make sure you have the right personnel (like owner, manager or service adviser) to understand the benefits of nitrogen tire inflation and to prepare to market the service to your customers. Also don't forget to ask your system manufacturers about their marketing support such as banners, brochures or other marketing materials available for your shop to advertise. Nothing happens until the sale is closed! Therefore, marketing the service is as important as buying the right system.
5. Plan for growth
As gas prices go up and public concern about fuel economy, nitrogen tire inflation may become an attractive option to keep the tires properly inflated. There has been talks about State-level incentive(s) to support the use of nitrogen tire inflation system. Recently, Pennsylvania (http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/enintech/cwp/view.asp?a=1412&q=502176) become the first US state to provide grants to assist automotive service providers to purchase nitrogen tire inflation systems. The grant would match 50% of the system cost or up to $5,000.00 in equipment purchase. In foreseeable future, nitrogen might even become the standard inflation gas. Therefore, before you purchase your system, you will need to project your sales volume for nitrogen inflation in the next 3 to 5 years. You may only need a 20 gallon tank for now but eventually a 40 gallon tank is required in the next 2 years to fulfill your demand.